A Rainy Memorial Day Weekend

Hello everybody,

It's Memorial Day weekend here in Idaho, and it hasn't stopped raining. We thought we moved from Oregon to get away from the rain, but I think Hannalize brought it with her when she moved up. For those of you not from America, Memorial Day (which is Monday, May 29th) is a holiday to commemorate those who have died in defense of our country and our values in the armed forces. There are memorial services, parades, and barbecues all over the country. It's also the traditional start of the summer camping season.

The poor people who chose to go camping this weekend probably have gotten a bit wet. The temperatures haven't been too warm either, about 50 F (10 C). We chose to stick around and explore the area a bit. We drove into Coeur D'Alene yesterday and did some shopping. Coeur D'Alene is about an hour away and has lots of good stores. We went to a very good farm and ranch store (similar to Coastal), Costco, a great sporting goods store (every bit as good as Sportsman's Warehouse), and also bought a mattress. We needed a new mattress since our large air mattress decided to go flat, and we've been sleeping on a single size air mattress...nice and cozy....

Tomorrow, we're just going to be around St. Maries. We've looked at a couple more houses, but we're still not sure what we are going to do about buying a house. There just doesn't seem to be a whole lot of houses worth buying. Either they need too much work or alterations to be what we want or are priced too high. We know we'll find something though....

Hallo almal!

Jip, ons het net 'n rustige naweek by die huis. Het vandag een huis gaan kyk, maar ons weet nog nie wat ons gaan doen nie... Ons kon nog nie die huis kry wat ons wil he nie, al die huise wat ons sien het een of ander iets wat werk nodig het... Ons mis alreeds ons huis in Sherwood! Volgende naweek gaan ons terug Oregon toe om te trek. Hulle pad ons goed die Maandag en laai die trok die Dinsdag. Ons meubels gaan eers in stoor in totdat ons weet waarheen ons wil trek.

So 2/3 weke terug het Joel een dag 'n R1 muntstuk as kleingeld gekry by een van die supermarkte hier op die dorp! Wat is die kans so iets gebeur! Ek kon nie glo dit gebeur nie, maar dis dieselfde grootte as 'n 5c stuk hier by ons en hulle het dit aangesien daarvoor!!! Die randstuk le nou op my lessenaar en ek moet onthou om dit SA toe te vat wanneer ons soontoe gaan vir Kersfees.

Ons het ongelukkig hierdie week nie nuwe foto's nie. Dit was te vaal en nat om 'n mooi foto te neem. Met Roxy gaan dit baie goed. Sy geniet dit dat ek nou die hele dag by die huis is en le die hele dag by my en slaap en wil dan nog steeds in die aande ge"entertain" word, 'n regte enkelkind! Roxy het nou tennisballe ontdek en ons moet net die heeltyd die bal vir haar gooi. Sy het die gewoonte om dit dan onder die kaste in te laat gaan en dan moet ons in elk geval opstaan en dit eers uithaal, want sy laat ons nie vergeet daarvan nie.

Ons gaan eers groet hier uit 'n nat en koue St Maries. Mooi bly!

Joel en Hannalize

Our first post

Hello everyone.

This is our first attempt at putting together a blog. We figure this is the easiest way to keep everyone updated on our move to St. Maries, Idaho. St. Maries is a town of approx. 2700 people located in Idaho's panhandle. It is about an hour from Couer d'Alene and 1 hour 15 minutes from Spokane, WA. The town has an economy largely based on the timber industry, with two sawmills and a plywood mill and numerous logging and forestry companies.

Joel has been here for about 6 weeks and Hannalize arrived here yesterday, May 20th. Joel has a job as "Harvest Operations Supervisor" for Potlatch Forest Products Corp., and Hannalize will keep her job as "Senior Forecast Analyst" for Gerber Legendary Blades. Fortunately, Hannalize will be able to work from the house. In fact, we spent quite a while yesterday and today getting her office set up. The high speed internet is hooked up and appears to be working. Finally, Hannalize will have an office with a window....

Our new house (just a rental) is located at the corner of 13th street and College avenue, about a block off the main highway. Keep in mind that the "main highway" here doesn't have too much traffic. Mostly log trucks coming to the mill and lumber and plywood being shipped out. Right now, the highway traffic is a bit higher than normal since the railroad bridge collapsed about a month ago. Back to the house...it's a two bedroom, one bathroom house that has a floorplan very similar to our flat that we had in Stellenbosch. The house also has a basement that has a bit of a water problem, so we are avoiding storing too much stuff in the basement.

Roxy is tolerating her new house. I think she feels the same way as Joel and Hannalize....this house is definitely not our dream house (or anywhere near it)...We do miss our house from Sherwood, but we both recognize that it is only temporary. In fact, it is so temporary that we are sleeping on an air mattress (that doesn't hold much air) and our living room furniture consists of three folding camp chairs.

OK, now Hannalize is going to type her impression of things so far....

Hallo almal!

Joel het so 'n kliniese stuk geskryf dat ek maar sal vertel hoe dit regtig hier is!!! Het gisteraand hier aangekom na 'n lang ry en moes sommer al op die eerste aand in my nuwe huis by my eie huis inbreek nadat Joel ons uitgesluit het! Gelukkig is dit so veilig hier dat dit nie te moeilik was nie... Moet erken, is op 31 nie meer heeltamal so "flexible" soos op 18 nie en die grond lyk baie hoer as ek kop eerste deur 'n klein venster moet gaan...

Het vanoggend bietjie hard wakker geword. Ons opblaasmatras het ons erens deur die nag in die steek gelaat, met die gevolg elke keer as die hond oor die matras loop dan styg of val my kop van die bietjie lug wat nog wel oorgebly het... Was bly toe dit uiteindelik opstaantyd was. Moet nog 'n plan maak vir vannaand se slaap...

Ons heg vir julle twee foto's aan om te sien hoe ons nuwe huis lyk en my kantoor met 'n uitsig...

Groete

Joel en Hannalize